https://indianmasterminds.com

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

M Devraj IAS: The Iron Bureaucrat Who Won’t Look Away

M Devraj, Uttar Pradesh’s iron-willed IAS officer, shakes up departments from power to GST, unafraid of protests, pressure, or the storm he leaves behind
Indian Masterminds Stories

When M. Devraj walks into a meeting room, silence falls like a gavel. Officers sit up straighter, files appear magically, and excuses disappear. This is the aura that the 1996-batch IAS officer has built over nearly three decades: an administrator who refuses to flinch when the ground shakes under his feet.

Born in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu, M. Devraj is today one of Uttar Pradesh’s most influential officers. As Principal Secretary, Appointment and Personnel, with an additional charge of the State Tax Department, he stands guard at the gates of the state’s bureaucracy and, many would say, its conscience too. It’s not an easy post. It never was. But for Devraj, easy has never been the point.

FROM COLLECTOR’S CHAIR TO CHIEF GATEKEEPER

Before he became the nerve centre of UP’s appointment and tax machinery, M. Devraj spent years in the field, holding the unenviable charge of District Magistrate in ten districts, including heavyweights like Rampur, Bareilly, Badaun, Jhansi, and Unnao. As Collector and DM, he was not just the government’s face but its voice, hammer, and scalpel rolled into one, managing law and order for millions, pushing files that decided who got a road, a school, or a hospital.

It was here that he cemented his reputation: no patience for half-measures, zero interest in popularity contests. Farmers, contractors, teachers, politicians… everyone knew that if Devraj was in the DM’s chair, shortcuts were best kept away.

A RECORD OF ROUGH ROADS AND ROUGHER STANDS

After the field, bigger battles waited. As Principal Secretary of the Department of Technical Education and Skill Development, and then as Chairman and Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), Devraj stepped into storms many would politely sidestep.

In UPPCL, he cracked down so hard on inefficiency and mismanagement that the system rattled on its own bolts. In two years, over 250 engineers found themselves suspended or terminated. Protests broke out. Workers squatted on roads for 65 hours straight. They demanded Devraj’s removal. The government didn’t budge. Nor did he.

At one stormy review meeting in Gorakhpur, Devraj stunned a room full of officers with one line: “Get the dues collected, or I won’t let you keep this job.” The message landed harder than any official memo ever could.

INTO THE EYE OF THE GST STORM

Then came August 2024 and a major reshuffle. Devraj was handed the dual responsibility of the Appointment and Personnel Department and the State Tax Department. Few understood immediately what this meant until the raids began.

Under Devraj, the state’s GST machinery tightened its screws like never before. Uttar Pradesh’s tax revenue, 70% of which flows from State Tax, had been sluggish. Devraj turned it into a mission. Officers suddenly found themselves attending video calls on weekends. Surprise checks, door-to-door inspections, late-night reports — the system buzzed with a new energy and fear.

Traders in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, and other cities began downing shutters in protest. Rumours of businesses fleeing Kanpur swirled. Gutkha traders, once brazen, now found GST officers camping outside warehouses. Fear, many said, turned into panic.

A DEPARTMENT UNDER SIEGE

The iron grip came at a cost. Stress lines deepened inside the GST department itself. Officers complained of impossible targets and relentless raids. In the days that followed, the GST Officers’ Service Association staged rare protests. They walked out of official WhatsApp groups. Plans were drawn for mass casual leave after Holi. The discontent grew louder, but Devraj, characteristically, didn’t blink.

CLOSE TO THE TOP AND CLOSE TO THE CHIEF

Those who watch Uttar Pradesh’s corridors of power know that Devraj’s real shield is trust. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath counts him among his closest officers, the man you send when a department needs to be squeezed dry of complacency. Appointments, postings, promotions… the files pass through Devraj’s table, and he reads them like a hawk circling a field mouse.

The Appointment and Personnel Department is the state’s bureaucratic heart. Add to that the sensitive, cash-heavy State Tax Department and it’s clear that Devraj’s grip reaches the pulse and the purse of India’s most populous state.

LOVED, FEARED, BUT NEVER IGNORED

Inside the secretariat, old-timers remember how Devraj handled policy on agriculture, horticulture, food processing, rural infrastructure, primary to technical education, public works, and land revenue! A list so long it looks like an index of UP’s development challenges.

He has pushed forward rural roads, cleaned up power leaks, watched over school budgets, planned sanitation drives, and even handled knotty questions around intellectual property laws. But for all this, his style has remained the same: tough, direct, and unyielding.

WHERE THE FEAR COMES FROM AND WHERE IT STAYS

Some call him ruthless. Others call him necessary. Both may be right. M. Devraj’s story is not of a hero or villain. It’s about a bureaucrat who believes that a government post is not a picnic spot; it’s an anvil, and he is the hammer.

From electricity poles to GST raids, from DM bungalows to the echoing hallways of Lok Bhawan, Devraj’s signature is easy to spot: if there’s a mess, he will walk into it. If there’s noise, he will raise it. And if the system trembles, he won’t flinch.

In today’s Uttar Pradesh, that makes him one of the most watched and whispered about men in power. One who refuses to look away.


Indian Masterminds Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
NEWS
Bihar Cabiner meeting expressways
Bihar's Infrastructure Leap: 12 Districts to Benefit as New Greenfield Expressway Cuts Raxaul-Haldia Travel to Under 10 Hours
Bhupendra Patel CM Gujarat Cooperative
Gujarat Charts Grand Plan for International Cooperative Year 2025 under CM Patel’s Leadership - Details Inside
ministry of information and broadcasting MIB
MIB Issues Transfer & Posting Orders for 31 IIS Officers Across Media Units, Effective Immediately - Check Details Here
Bihar Government-resized-IM
Cane to Cash: Bihar Govt Rolls Out Rs49 Crore Scheme to Boost Sugarcane Farming and Farmer Incomes
bureaucracy news
Anil Kumar Singhal Repatriated to Andhra Pradesh Cadre; FSIB Chairperson & Members Get One-Year Extension
Bhupendra Patel CM Gujarat
Gujarat Secretariat Leads the Way in Reducing Plastic Usage with 'Sakhi Neer' Glass Bottling Initiative
temple
Ghela Somnath Mahadev Temple to Shine with Rs10 Cr Redevelopment Plan, Echoing ‘Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi’ Vision
PESB
PESB Selects Nripendra Nath as New Director (Technical) for CMPDIL - Know More About Him
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
Inderjit Singh Air India
Is Air India Carrying The Burden of Split Before Privatisation?
Ex IRS C Rajendiran
Ex-IRS Officer C. Rajendiran Illuminates Thirukkural’s Timeless Wisdom in Exclusive Interview
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-25 at 5.07
Why Has the DGCA Fined Air India Rs 5 Crore Since Privatisation?
ADVERTISEMENT
UPSC Stories
IPS Deepak Meghani
Deepak Meghani, IPS: A Journey of Focus, Failure, and Quiet Discipline
A passionate writer, he has authored several books in Gujarati, ranging from exam strategy guides to...
Sanish Kumar Singh
“If you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way,” Sanish Kumar Singh AIR 8, UPSC IFS 2024 
The real interview, he says, was much more humane. “The board was conversational. The chairman opened...
Raju Wagh
When the Battlefield Became a Study Room and a Dream Took Flight
Amid IED blasts and anti-Maoist operations in Bastar, CRPF Commando Raju Wagh taught village kids, studied...
Social Media
Shailaja Chandra
“Nanis & Dadis Have a Brain”: Former IAS Officer Shailaja Chandra Weighs in on 1970s vs 2025 Life Debate - “This Generation Has It Better”
Responding to Viral Post on Middle-Class Struggles, Ex-Bureaucrat Offers Candid Reflection on Then and...
Tigress Arrowhead
The End of an Era: A Queen Falls - Ranthambore’s Iconic Tigress Arrowhead (T-84) Passes Away at 14, Hours After Daughter’s Relocation
Ranthambore mourns the loss of one of its fiercest and most beloved tigers, Arrowhead, the granddaughter...
Screenshot 2025-06-13 194001
Wild Elephant Disrupts Riverside Picnic, Sparks Debate on Human Encroachment; IFS Parveen Kumar Shares the Video - Watch Here!
Mr. Kaswan used the viral video, which has garnered over 1.5 lakh views, to highlight the risks of human...
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest
Bihar Cabiner meeting expressways
Bihar's Infrastructure Leap: 12 Districts to Benefit as New Greenfield Expressway Cuts Raxaul-Haldia Travel to Under 10 Hours
Bhupendra Patel CM Gujarat Cooperative
Gujarat Charts Grand Plan for International Cooperative Year 2025 under CM Patel’s Leadership - Details Inside
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
Inderjit Singh Air India
Ex IRS C Rajendiran
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-25 at 5.07
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT